Farmhands pick Huangshan Maofeng tea in Fuxi town. [Photo/xuexi.cn]
As the center for growing Huangshan Maofeng – one of the most pricey and sought-after green teas in China – Fuxi town in the Huizhou district of Huangshan city, in Anhui province, welcomed in its tea picking season on March 25.
Pickers carefully plucked the first tea sprouts on the day in accordance with the "one bud and one leaf" standard. The fresh leaves in their tea basket were quickly snapped up at about 600 yuan ($87.18) per kilogram.
Huangshan Maofeng, literally means fuzz tip from Huangshan Mountain. [Photo/xuexi.cn]
Huangshan Maofeng is among China's top 10 teas and the art of making it was added on Nov 29 to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, compiled by UNESCO.
There are currently tea plantations covering some 52,000 mu (3,466.67 hectares) in Huizhou district, 80 percent of which are located in the high mountains at an altitude of about 600 meters. The clouds are believed to form a natural layer of shielding, blocking the sunlight and allowing the tea leaves to produce more nitrogen content and their distinctive aroma.
In recent years, Huizhou district has given top priority to improving the quantity and quality of its local tea. The total output from the area under cultivation there is projected to top 2,500 metric tons this year, worth 1.5 billion yuan.